Nicolette braces herself for return to squash courts

Guyana’s world-renowned squash player Nicolette Fernandes returned to the squash courts last Monday for light training after being sidelined from competitive play for close to a year due to an injury to her left knee.

The 24-year professional squash player who campaigns on the international circuit, saw her ranking plummet daily through to her inactivity to its present low of No.126 on the women’s world ranking list.

In an interview ith Stabroek Sport Fernandes said that her return to the court was not an attempt to get back up in the rankings but was an attempt to fully rehabilitate herself from the career-threatening injury.

“I have in the past set goals for myself, but I have come to realize that with an injury like this you just have to strive to get healthy first before anything else, because it is not like a torn ligament or normal injury and I had it all my life,” she said.

The injury that Fernandes was referring to is called Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, which is mainly caused by the mal-tracking of the patella of the knee.

Fernandes told Stabroek Sport that her condition was diagnosed by a knee specialist based in Florida in May 2006 and she has had many surgeries ever since.

The nature of the patella facilitates movement up and down as well as rotating and tilting in various directions.

Fernandes explained that the left patella had developed a tendency over a period of time to pull towards the left which caused excruciating pain.

“The patella is like a train that is supposed to be on a track, but my patella comes off the track and when ever it comes off the track it causes me severe pain.”

Fernandes added that she had always believed that the pain was a direct result of the work that she had been putting in and was of the opinion that it was customary for competitive athletes to suffer from such aches and pains.

“I have had a couple of surgeries and I found that there is nothing surgically that can be done for it to be repaired and what my physiotherapist and I have decided is for me to wear a knee brace,” the reigning Central American and Caribbean (CAC) champion said.

As she enters her second week back on the courts, Fernandes said that her biggest challenge was to re-adjust her body to the training since it had been quite a while since she had done any training of sort.

“Although I had been involved in activities to keep fit during the time I was out, it was not squash, so right now my body is now trying to overcome the shock of being re-introduced to the sport I love.

“Right now I am currently doing work without the ball, that is; swings and court movement drills to get back my technique and improve on my mobility and so far my knee is holding up good,” she added.

The initial treatment plan for such an injury should include quadriceps strengthening and temporarily activity modification.

Fernandes said that she planned to take the rehabilitation process one day at a time, and has had to temporary put away her competitive spirit which has in the past pushed her to fight to overcome her injury rather than be patient and accept that it was out of her hands.

“My constant falling in the women’s world ranking has been really hard for me to accept knowing that it is like if the last four years of hard work in the sport have just gone down the drain.

“Although this may motivate me to accelerate my training and get back on the scene just like that, I had to understand that this thing is out of my hands and all I can do is take it one step at a time,” she said.

“It has been a real tough time for me and since I have been playing professional squash, being injured it is like if I am unemployed, and I really would like to thank my parents, the rest of my family and a special thank you to Lee for their support. They have all been there for me and it is through their support that I have been able to make it this far.”